SOCHI, July 1. /TASS/. Russia has been consistently calling for the depolitization of work of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) that has become a much-in-demand platform for cooperation of the regional countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said opening the meeting of the organization’s Council of Foreign Ministers in Sochi on Friday.

"Russia and other BSEC countries are interconnected by a long history of political and human contacts and mutual penetration of cultures," Lavrov said. "We are determined to fulfill the potential of the trade and economic cooperation."

"For almost a quarter of the century, the organization has confirmed itself as a much-in-demand platform for a steady development of diversified cooperation," he added.

Russia "attaches great importance to boosting cooperation as part of the BSEC and consistently calls for a depoliticized character of its work," Lavrov said, adding that he hopes that the meeting will be held in a constructive way.

The BSEC is an international economic organization of 12 countries from the wider Black Sea area (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine). Established in 1992, the BSEC is an inter-governmental organization created with the aim to foster interaction and harmony among its member states, as well as to ensure peace, stability and prosperity encouraging friendly and good-neighborly relations in the Black Sea region.